George Condo's ink drawings, showcased in exhibitions such as the one at Skarstedt Gallery in London from February 11 to April 5, 2014, represent a significant chapter in the artist's oeuvre. This body of work, realized over a six-month period, marks a new area of focus for Condo, emphasizing his exploration of the possibilities of ink on paper. The artist himself has described his intention with these works as an exploration of "extreme possibilities of ink on paper," utilizing the medium to create "transparent layers of colors" and drawing inspiration from artists like Rothko with his "overlapping veils of transcendental space" (Skarstedt) (Skarstedt).
In creating these ink drawings, Condo engaged deeply with the thematic and stylistic tensions between drawing and painting, a recurrent theme in his work. He has been known to reflect on the directness of drawing versus the more controlled methods of painting, with the ink drawings characterized by a "dark brooding palette" and a return to figurative subject matter. This marks a deliberate stylistic shift from his previous abstract tendencies, underscoring a renewed engagement with traditional subjects on a grand scale, which is particularly evident in works like "Standing Bather, 2013." In this piece, the female nude is presented with an angelic purity against a dark backdrop, illustrating Condo's ability to imbue his figures with a sculptural quality through the application of gesso, thereby enhancing their figurative presence (Skarstedt).
George Condo has been a prominent figure in the New York art scene since the 1980s, known for his unique contributions to the revival of painting and drawing as mediums of expression. His works, characterized by a combination of the grotesque and the beautiful, situate him among the ranks of his contemporaries, such as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Condo's adeptness as a draughtsman and painter continues to evolve, as evidenced by his ink drawings, which have been the subject of major exhibitions worldwide and are held in numerous important public and private collections, including The Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (Skarstedt).